Catherine feels deeply conflicted emotions regarding her brother, David, who has autism. What stands in the way of what Catherine wants has much more to do with her own attitudes and those of her parents than with her brother himself. One difficulty that she faces is her tendency to blame him for her problems. It also seems that her parents could have done more to help the family understand the implications of David’s condition, such as through family therapy. They seem to have assigned Catherine with more responsibility than a 12-year-old could reasonably be expected to handle. As Catherine would like to have her own social life that excludes her younger brother, she seeks out friendships with children she sees as “normal.” However, she projects an idealized fantasy onto the others, rather than acknowledging that all children could have problems of various kinds. She also befriends Jason, a boy with physical disabilities.